Australian AI startup Brainfish announced raising $2.5 million in a seed funding round, while Singtel’s Australian unit Optus has named a new chief executive officer.
Brainfish bags $2.5m in Surge-led seed round
Australian AI-powered customer support platform Brainfish has announced raising $2.5 million in its seed funding round anchored by Peak XV’s Surge.
The funding round, which was also participated by Machdoch Ventures, Black Sheep Capital, and angel investors, brings the startup’s total capital raised to date to $3.3 million, per the announcement.
Launched in Australia in April 2023, Brainfish helps customers understand a product by answering their questions instantly using personalised AI search. It then shows businesses what customers are looking for through smart analytics.
“We aggregate complex data to create one digital source of truth, eliminating 90% of the need for humans to support and interact with the customer and saving companies countless hours,” said Brainfish co-founder and CEO Daniel Kimber.
The startup said it will use the new funds to expand to new markets and further build out its suite of services for software and marketplace businesses.
Optus names Stephen Rue as new CEO
Optus, the Australian unit of Singapore telecom giant Singtel, has named Stephen Rue as its new chief executive officer following the departure of Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.
Rosmarin resigned in November last year in the wake of the nationwide outage that took down phone and Internet services for 14 hours. The blackout impacted more than 10 million Australians.
Rue, who has been CEO of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) since 2018, will assume his new position in November 2024, following an extensive internal, external, and international search.
The Optus CEO and executives will report to the Optus board, and Rue will join the board and report to the chairman. The board and executives will work together to reset strategy and rebuild customer trust in the Optus brand, per the announcement.
Singtel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said Optus has been part of the Singtel stable for two decades and remains a strategic long-term commitment.
“In today’s uncertain economic environment, businesses need greater independence and agility to better navigate the market and we believe the new governance model will set the Optus management up for success,” Moon said.
